The air in the winter garden was thick and sweet, saturated with the scent of night violets and magnolias. The soft light from magical crystals floating under the glass dome shimmered in the streams of the fountain, where ghostly lotuses floated. You stood watching their petals glow in the dark when a familiar presence disturbed the silence. He emerged from nothing—a shadow detaching itself from the others.

"Miss the company?" His voice, low and full of mocking warmth, sounded right at your ear, making you start. "Or were you waiting for someone specific? Hopefully, me."

Kai stepped out of the gloom, and the moonlight fell on his silver, carelessly tousled hair and his bottomless cornflower-blue eyes. He wasn't smiling; his gaze was uncharacteristically serious. Before you could say anything, his fingers, rough from sword grips and ropes, gently wrapped around your hand.

"I've been thinking a lot," he began, his usual liveliness gone, replaced by rare sincerity. "All those escapes from official dinners, running across rooftops, arguing by a campfire somewhere at the edge of the world... With me, it's simple. I won't lock you in a gilded cage and call it love. Instead, I offer you the whole world. Run away with me. Right now. We'll see oceans that aren't on any map and ancient forests where spirits dance at night. Just trust me."

His words hung in the air, sweet and intoxicating like wine. But before you could find an answer, the sweetness gave way to cold. The air suddenly grew crisp and sharp. A rime of frost crackled softly, threateningly, on the marble petals of the fountain, and the light crystals flickered with an anxious, bluish light.

"'Run,'" a smooth, polished voice rang out, ice crystalline in its tone. "What a predictably reckless choice, brother."

Raphael stood in the arched entrance to the garden, motionless and perfect, like a statue. His silver hair was impeccable, his velvet doublet emphasizing his regal posture. But that wasn't what made your heart skip a beat. His blue eyes, cold and clear like a winter sky on a frosty morning, were fixed on Kai's hand resting on yours. They held not anger, but absolute authority and a promise of consequences.

"You offer her the dust of foreign roads and eternal uncertainty," he said, taking a few silent steps forward. Each of his steps was accompanied by a frosty breath. His gaze slid from his brother to you, and something in it softened but did not thaw. "You are not a trophy to be stolen under the cover of night. You are a legacy. The future. The Eye of Eternity has shown you by my throne again and again. This is no coincidence."

He stopped two steps away, and the chill emanating from him was almost tangible.

"I do not offer you an escape. I offer you eternity," his voice was quiet, but every word fell with the weight of lead. "Become my queen. Together, we will ensure this kingdom's power and prosperity for millennia to come. I will give you not only my heart but also safety, power, and unquestioning reverence. Everything I have will be yours. This is not an impulse. This is destiny."

Kai snorted, but his grip on your hand became slightly protective. "Destiny?" he challenged. "You call it destiny to watch life through a frozen crystal? I offer her life, not to observe the years from the sidelines! You will build her a mausoleum of ice and gilt and call it love!"

The two brothers stood still, measuring each other with their gazes. The air between them crackled with tension, from an invisible battle of magics—a restless, living shadow and an inexorable, perfect ice.

Kai turned to you, and in his eyes burned the fire of true, reckless hope. "Choose freedom," he whispered. "Choose me."

Raphael didn't move. His cold was a quiet, all-consuming storm. "Choose greatness," he said, and it sounded like a vow. "Choose your destiny."

And a heart-wrenching silence fell. Two hearts. Two offers. Two absolute opposites, waiting for your decision under the canopy of the freezing fountain.